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Two advisors start their careers with similar backgrounds — the same education and training, and similar connections and people skills. Within two years, one of them is extremely successful, and the other is struggling.

Maybe “the other” isn’t bringing in enough clients, or the right kinds of clients. Maybe he is working so hard that he has no life. Maybe he’s just unhappy.

The struggling advisor sees that he has fallen behind, so he seeks out more training, more advice, more strategies … but his world gets no better.

Too many professionals are seeking descriptions of someone else’s successful behaviors and strategies that they can apply to their own businesses. But descriptions of someone else’s successful behaviors and performance don’t usually give you access to that same level of performance.

There is only one thing that accounts for the difference in the level of performance of these two advisors, and it’s not that one has more ideas and strategies. Access to the higher performance is based on action! The successful advisor is taking action to create what he needs. The struggling advisor isn’t.

Study any top professional and you’ll see the same thing. What distinguishes his or her performance is his or her level of action.

But why doesn’t the weaker-performing advisor display the same level of action? It’s not because he doesn’t have enough information or strategies. His performance level is lower because the way the world is occurring to him — and the way he is occurring to himself — is perfect for the level he has attained. His level of action perfectly matches how the world occurs to him .

Here’s how the world might be occurring to the successful advisor:

I am the best advisor in the state. The prospects I meet are godsends. They are people I can serve who will appreciate what
I do for them and want me to help everyone they care about. I can be who I want to be because the world is a safe place and the people that matter will respond to me positively.

Here’s how the less successful advisor might be viewing the world:

I’m good at what I do, but sometimes, I just feel I don’t know enough. Prospecting is so difficult. Nobody ever answers the phone and they never call back. When they do, they’re already working with someone or they have no money. It’s a tough world
out there and if I just told some of the people who are "thinking about" what I’ve recommended what I really think, they’d probably back away, and then there would be no business at all.

If you’re not happy with your performance, it’s because of how prospecting, sales, dealing with prospects and clients, and your role
as a professional are occurring to you, not because you need more ideas. All the training in the world from the best people in the business will not substantially change your results if there isn’t a huge shift in your view of the world. It’s really about your “inner stance,” not what activities you’re doing.

How your world is occurring for you shapes every action you take, so trying to change your level or type of action to improve your overall performance without first addressing and shifting how the world occurs to you is futile. You don’t need more information, either. You need a better view of the world and your place in it.

Listen to the words you use when you talk about yourself, your family, your business, your prospects, your clients. If you’re not where you want to be, what you say about all of these things will tell you why. Your words are the window into how your world is occurring to you. Catch the negative, weak words that are holding you back and replace them with powerful words, words that show the world is occurring to you in a better way.

You don’t need more training; you need an alteration in occurrence. Only then can you change your actions, increase your performance and become the success you know you ought to be.

The views expressed here are those of the author and not necessarily those of ProducersWEB.

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About the Author

After fifteen years as an attorney, and the "rainmaker" for his firm, Sandy was disabled by complications resulting from cancer treatments and was faced with either rebuilding his practice or doing something he he was passionate about.
He found his answer in training and coaching insurance and... More